1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of graphical user interface (GUI) controls and more particularly to displaying dynamic content in a GUI control.
2. Description of the Related Art
The conventional graphical user interface (GUI) has been widely used for many years. The primary function of the GUI includes providing visual controls with which the end-user can interact with an underlying application. Though the common GUI includes many stock visual controls, a select few visual controls can be combined to accommodate most computer-human interactions required by an application. For example, the static text box control can be used to present text to the end-user while an edit box can permit the user to provide textual input to the application. A radio button control can provide for the exclusive selection of an element from among a field of elements, while a checklist box control can provide for the non-exclusive selection of elements from among a field of elements.
User interface controls ordinarily provide a visual interface which permits some sort of user interactivity, such as a mouse click for a button or check box, and an insert caret for a text field. While a textual label ordinarily is associated with the control as a separate component, the textual label for the control and the control itself often are viewed as a singular entity. As such, the combination of the textual label and the control provide two basic informational components: the identity of the control and the immediate state of the control, e.g. selected, input provided, etc. Notably, over the years, the basic idea of the user interface control has not changed, despite increases in the expressive power of other aspects of the GUI.
Certain types of a GUI controls can produce clutter in a view due to the separate nature of the label and control. In particular, where the label for the control exceeds the width of the control itself, a limited number of controls can be placed adjacent to one another in a view while maintaining an orderly appearance. Also, the distance between each control can increase as the width of the label far exceeds that of the control. In many cases, groups of controls are arranged together such as an arrangement of radio buttons grouped together to provide a singular choice among the choices corresponding to the radio buttons. In this case, it can be important to arrange the controls close enough together to indicate that a user is to choose one radio button from amongst the arrangement of radio buttons.
Oftentimes, controls are used repetitively in sequence in a form such as a survey, or in a multiple choice examination. Other times, a single form can be used repeatedly for different circumstances, such as the repeated application of a selection of criteria to a unique data instance. In the latter circumstance, the form can be used repeatedly to process different records in a data set. Conventionally, the user interface controls in a form of this type provide only a static view of the current record or selection. The static view only indicates the current state of the control—in the case of a radio button group, the selected radio button. User interface controls in a form of this type, however, cannot provide a dynamic, cumulative view of the past use of the user interface control so as to guide the user in making a contemporary selection in the control.